World War III
by MultipleCyrosis
Summary: [AU]The nuclear bombs of the Akatsuki begin World War III. The world turns to Naruto and co. to be come involved in the synthesis of a squadron of elite jet combat specialists. [No main pairings but eventual NejiTen]
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Hey there. This is a plot that just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. Please keep in mind that it is AU, so expect some characters not to be in character. A few things to note… I don't know much about the geography of Japan, so I beg your pardon if I am saying some wrong stuff. I also don't know Japan's social hierarchy, so I called the leader of Japan, the Emperor. Also, I don't really know much about bombs and such so bear with me if I'm making totally weird stuff up. There will be some Neji-Tenten later on, but it will not be the main focus of this story.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto

* * *

**World War III: Chapter 1 **

* * *

_World, July 4, 2023_

This day known as Independence Day to some, did not, in any way, represent the independence and happiness that the Americans gained so long ago. In the future, this day would not be recognised as the day Americans gained independence, but rather, the day World War III began. It was on this day, that America suffered its first nuclear bombing. It seemed like fate had remembered that it needed to play a cruel joke on the Americans for their bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all those years ago. But the enemy was not Japan.

Akatsuki - the name given to a group of terrorists that had emerged shortly after the supposed elimination of terrorism, in 2010. However, what made these terrorists different from the stereotypical bomb-a-building terrorists, were that they specialised in stealth, blitzing, and, perhaps the most important thing, air combat. The latter was probably the reason for most of the power that the group held. Another important reason that this group was unique from any other groups was that they were international, and had no (apparent) agenda. All previous terrorist groups had something in common, whether it be religion, or race. This group however, held no religion, and held no particular country alliance. Rather, the members of the group were said to have generated from all countries of the world – something that was extremely dangerous. The Akatsuki's power grew, and over time, rumours were spread that they had at least one member of high social or government status in each country of the world. In the same way that small seeds of doubt grow into ugly, choking thorns so grew the Akatsuki's power.

And, on July 4, 2023, the Akatsuki made a mockery of Independence Day, exploding hundreds of millions of buildings, homes and lives. The atomic bombs that had been dropped on Japan all those years ago seemed like fireworks compared to what the Akatsuki achieved. Due to the superior air power that the Akatsuki had obtained, they sliced through the United States' scattered air defence, and then elegantly released their precious cargo. The few seconds of silence that followed the nuclear weapons as they soared downwards through the air was the last few seconds of silence the world was going to be privileged with for a very, very, long time.

The entire west coast of the United States of America was eradicated. Eradicated meaning total annihilation, while history referred to it as 'The Nuclear Wipe'. The earth groaned that fateful day, as if it knew that fighting would once again grace its scarred surface. Up until this day, the earth still has not recovered from the impact of World War III. As the president of the United States declared war on the Akatsuki, they had said his eyes were watering, but his voice, was ice.

* * *

_Seiwa, Kyushu, Japan, April 1, 2028_

"AHH! I missed the train!"

The conductor looked at the blonde haired youth, aged about sixteen. He kept a blank face. He was a conductor. He couldn't just flag down a high-speed train for one boy. The boy would have to wait.

"Hey, old man!"

The train guard stopped in his tracks. There was no way that boy had just called him an old man. It must have been someone else on the platform. Yes, that was it. He wasn't old, just retired, from his other job. Fifty was _not _old.

"Old man, old man!"

The train guard turned around angrily.

"What, _little _boy?"

If the teenager took offence, he didn't show it.

"What time is the next train to Nagasaki?"

"Oh. That'll be quite a while. In another two hours, I think," he answered, guiltily feeling pleased that the boy would have to wait another two hours for the next train. With that, the train conductor turned heel.

"How troublesome."

"Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaimed, as he turned to see his friend. "What are you doing here?"

The dark shaggy haired, high-pony-tailed, youth who looked about the same age as Naruto looked at his friend blankly. "Our whole school has an excursion."

"I know!" the energetic blond said. Shikamaru thanked the heavens that there wasn't anyone else on the platform. "But why are you here?" Shikamaru didn't turn up to any excursions, simply because he was too lazy. In addition to that, when he did go on excursions, which was very rarely, he usually missed two trains, not one.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "My parents live in Nagasaki, remember? My aunt already went ahead to visit them. She'll kill me if I don't turn up. Troublesome," he muttered.

Shikamaru lived with his aunt, here, simply because his parents were not happy with the level of education he was getting in the city. Naruto recalled that his parents had told him that he was too lazy in the city, and had decided to send him here, where they thought that the country would encourage him to work. Boy, they had it all wrong. All Shikamaru did at this school was lie on the oval and stare at the clouds. Even though, in the city, Shikamaru told him that he had done that too, except it was at the top of a city building. He had said that he liked the country better because it was quieter.

"Well…I missed the train."

"I know, you idiot. That's why you're still here." Shikamaru rolled his eyes again and then slumped down on the station seat.

"I had to finish off my sixth bowl of ramen," Naruto defended, as he sat down next to his friend.

Shikamaru opened one eye. He didn't know how Naruto could put away all that ramen, let alone pay for it. Naruto had no family – he had moved out of the orphanage as soon as he was able to get work. The thing about Naruto, though, was that he worked hard, even though he acted like an idiot. Naruto boarded, and even though the government supported him, Shikamaru couldn't understand how Naruto stayed alive.

"Two hours till the next train. Great. I guess I'll sleep a bit."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I wished I caught it," he continued. "Now I'm going to miss out on Sakura in normal clothes!"

Now it was Shikamaru's turn to roll his eyes. Everyone, yes, everyone knew about Naruto's infatuation with the oddly pink haired girl. Shikamaru shrugged, as Naruto kept blabbing on about how pretty Sakura was.

"Get over it, Naruto," he said, annoyed that he had to put up with Naruto's incessant rambling. All he wanted to do was look at the clouds. But he couldn't, not with the stupid roof on the platform. It wasn't as if him and Naruto were that great friends anyway. Well, they were, because Naruto basically made friends with anyone, and since he had no one else to turn to except his school, Shikamaru could understand. He supposed he was better friends with Naruto than anyone else – Shikamaru was best friends with another guy who wasn't exactly popular as well – Chouji. But then again, Shikamaru didn't really care what anyone else thought of him.

"And then there's Hinata and Ino, and she's…"

Shikamaru tuned out, though the last thing Naruto had said triggered a humorous memory that had happened in class the other day. Naruto had been throwing paper balls around the class, as he usually did – just being the annoying orphan brat that he was. The only problem was, he sucked. He missed every, single, one of the people he was aiming for. Finally, he tired to hit Ino from his spot at the back of the class. He kept missing her, but somehow managed to always throw the paper to the left side of her. Thankfully Ino didn't notice. Shikamaru, tired, and being the nice guy he was, decided to help Naruto out. The next time Naruto threw a paper ball, it would overshoot as usual. Shikamaru, sitting on the other side of the room, quickly scrunched up his page of notes that he had been dribbling on, and threw the ball in a straight line towards Ino. The ball collided with Naruto's overshot ball, and slammed both into the side of Ino's face.

Shikamaru grinned to himself. It had been a nice laugh, and Naruto had given him a hi-five, as if that was meant to happen. It was quite nicely done too – an excellent practical application of projectile motion. Even if she had given him a slap that left him with a red cheek for quite sometime.

The conductor watched the two young boys. He smiled, in spite of himself, remembering those times when he was younger. He felt a twinge of guilt that he had been pleased to say that the boys had to wait another two hours. Though he didn't know it now, it was extremely fortunate that the two of them missed the train to Nagasaki. If they did catch it, they would be dead.

* * *

_World, April 2, 2028_

"…Ok, is that understood?"

"Yes," was the general murmur.

Whispers floated around the room. This emergency meeting that included all the top officials, governors, and presidents from around the world. Yesterday, Japan had just been struck with a nuclear bomb, the target being Nagasaki. An April fools joke blown grossly out of proportion. Japan usually held out well such attacks – the event that started the war was a horrific air attack, and advancement in air defence was a necessity that the world officials had discussed time and time again. 'If they can't hit you, they're helpless,' was what they had said. However, five years later, it was now shown that no matter how good air defence became, there would always be a proportionate, if not higher, rise in piloting skills and technology. Simply speaking, the better air defence became, the better pilots became. Which was not good. The way things were going, it seemed like the Akatsuki would be able to overthrow the world in general.

The Japanese representative leaned over and whispered something into the Emperor's ear. The emperor gave a sigh, and then wearily stood up. After looking around to see most other representative's leaving, he mentally took note of the ones that stayed. America, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, and Korea. Added with him, Japan, they would make six all together. When every other country had left, the emperor signalled for his man to shut the door of the big meeting room.

After a few moments of silence, and quiet fidgeting of some of the leaders, the Japanese Emperor spoke.

"You know," he said, his English accent almost impeccable, "Why we are here."

The men left did not make a sound, but waited for the man to continue.

"It is obvious what is going to happen if we take the same approach to this situation as we have done in the past five years." The old man paused for emphasis. "We have talked about this before. Just updating missile systems, upgrading air defence and the like will not protect us anymore. I believe that it is the right time to take action, before my – before anyone's country is damaged more severely. Almost the whole population of Nagasaki was wiped out. I propose we take the offensive."

That statement drew some protests. 'We are taking the offensive,' 'We just landed troops in the northern part of Russia,' 'We infiltrated…'

"He's right."

Heads spun to see the President of United States speaking. "Let him continue."

As the taut silence came over the room again, the Japanese emperor did not immediately start talking. Instead, he examined all the people present. Slowly, he spoke.

"I believe the Western culture has a saying, 'fight fire with fire'. I believe we should do just that." He looked around again, measuring the amount of emotion on their faces. "I'm not saying to stoop to terrorist-like actions, but to surpass where the Akatsuki excel."

This time the Chinese president spoke. "Are you saying…"

"Yes," the emperor nodded once. "A group of elite combat pilots. They must fly the newest, fastest, jets. I know my country cannot provide all of the pilots, that is why I called you here."

"We could probably provide about fifty good pilots," said the German war commander.

"No," the old man replied without batting an eyelash. "They must be _elite_. I only want one from each country."

His last statement caused a dignified uproar amongst the various officials. If the countries present donated one pilot, that would come to a total of six pilots, which, scale-wise, was ridiculous. The number of pilots the Akatsuki had been estimated around five thousand. Not just any pilots, these were expert, trainedpilots. How the Akatsuki had managed to come up with that number of pilots, the men present did not know, but they did know the effects.

"With all due respect, Emperor, six pilots against five thousand, even if they are elite…" the Korean representative drifted off.

"That is why we will construct a hidden academy in each of our countries. To train new pilots."

There was a soft silence. The world leaders were still pondering on what this new approach would mean.

"After you pick your elite pilot, do not forget to focus on choosing the new recruits. They will, after all, one day be the deciding point on our battlefields." He paused again, as if afraid of what he was going to say next. "Choose young people – those who have been most affected by the war, as they have the most potential. I'm sure you will find it a relatively easy task to research."

The level of murmurs grew. Before anyone could make an outright statement, the old man spoke again.

"More importantly, we still must discuss the NBS project."

The room suddenly became quiet again, as if almost forgetting the things they had just been discussing.

* * *

_Seiwa, Kyushu, Japan, April 2, 2028_

To say that Naruto and Shikamaru were shocked, it would be an extreme understatement. After hearing the news that 'something' had come up and, cancelled the train, the two ambled to Shikamaru's aunt's home, oblivious to the extremity of the event that had just happened. Right now they were still on the couch, in front of the television. It would not be inaccurate to say that they were speechless, either. Even Naruto, who seemed to get through every single depressing situation quite easily had nothing to say. After initially mourning over the loss of his loved ones, Shikamaru's thoughts turned to Naruto. If being an orphan wasn't enough, his _only _life had been taken away.

They had watched the television the whole night, not saying a word. Both of them were thinking the same thing – were their classmates ok? They had hit 3:00AM, when a special report came up. Prior to this, they had heard nothing about their classmates, just analysis of how the plane penetrated the tight air defences, how many people were estimated to be dead and how much damage was done. As if in answer to their question the special report at 3:00AM was about a busload of students. Or, the remains of a busload of students. They had looked closely and recognised their white and grey uniform. The silence had been deafening since then. The report was used to rouse the people against the Akatsuki, but the two boys felt that their life was over.

Shikamaru felt his eyes water. His mum. His dad. They could never be seen again. It was inevitable that his family would be killed, though he couldn't silence that little voice of hope that sung in the corner of his head. But, logical reasoning soon took over, and if the pictures by air proved correct, his parent's apartment was levelled. His mother had been quite proud of moving to that apartment, which was considered a prime location. Right, a prime location for a bomb, Shikamaru yelled to himself.

Naruto, on the other hand, wasn't feeling any better. He had absolutely no one. No one, other than a lazy ass boy and himself.

At about 2:00PM that afternoon, and the boys had taken separate trips to the bathroom to 'wash their face'; they sat down at the dinner table, their eyes red. Naruto was the first to speak.

"What do we do?" he said, in a soft whisper.

Shikamaru didn't answer.

"What is there to do? I don't have anyone. Not anymore," Naruto said, his voice getting a little shaky, but louder at the same time.

Shikamaru didn't say anything. After all, it is hard to answer someone who has absolutely nothing in the whole world.

"What…WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?" Naruto yelled, knocking a glass off the table. It smashed against the wall, and Shikamaru watched it shatter. Then he stood up.

"Naruto…DAMMIT NARUTO! What the FUCK did you do that for? My AUNTIE…" here Shikamaru trailed off, and started coughing quietly. "God…she's dead. My mum's dead…Chouji…" he muttered, more to himself than to Naruto.

Naruto just looked at him blankly.

The doorbell interrupted their angry exchange. It rang twice but neither of them moved. On the third chime, Shikamaru slowly wiped his eyes on the back of his shirtsleeve and walked shakily to the door. He simply swung the door open, not even bothering with a 'hello'.

"Nara Shikamaru, I presume? Do you know where I may find Uzumaki Naruto?"

Shikamaru just stared at the man at his doorstep blankly. "Go away," he managed, but his mind was thinking of where he had seen the guy before.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I am on urgent government business."

Where had he seen this guy before?

"HEY! You're the train guard! What are you doing here?" came a voice from behind Shikamaru. Even though his world was crushed, Naruto was Naruto and he couldn't contain himself.

"Yes, I am the train guard. However, my previous job was a government special agent, specialising in personal data research. I assume you are Uzumaki Naruto."

The two boys in front of him, didn't say anything. Truthfully, the old man felt sorry for them. That morning, he had received a phone call from the government, asking him to do some scouting. He had resisted at first, saying that he had retired, but they told him that they were asking everyone in the undercover agency to look for affected young people of the Nagasaki bombing. He was in the vicinity of an entire outside school had been eliminated, so they wanted him to find any children, which perhaps didn't go. The guard's thoughts immediately turned to the two boys waiting on the station platform that morning.

After some quick research, aided by the government, he had found out the details of the two boys, and set out to find them. What the government wanted from them he did not know – he was just told to deliver them to the nearest government outlet to await further orders. That was, of course, if they accepted.

"Please, the government is requesting your assistance."

"For what?" spat out Shikamaru, "Assistance on getting a better defence system?" he said sarcastically.

"You will find that out later. But, I am allowed to tell you this: You will be able to avenge your classmates if you come with me to a government outlet about an hour's drive from here. I will come by tomorrow morning at five o' clock. If you do not wish to go, I will leave. If you do, gather your most important things and be ready at five."

"We'll talk to you tomorrow," said Shikamaru tiredly, and shut the door. All he wanted to do now was crawl in a bed, sleep, wake up and find it was all a bad dream. He turned around to tell Naruto to go to sleep, but the blond haired boy had already taken his couch as residence. Shikamaru collapsed on the floor, and curled up in a tight ball, entering a montage of faded memories.

* * *

When Naruto woke up, he found Shikamaru sitting on the end of the couch, looking extremely sad. Out of instinct, Naruto asked, "Shikamaru, what's wrong…" then paused, as if thinking.

"Shit," he whispered, more to himself, than him.

Shikamaru ignored what he said. "That train guard will be here in an hour."

"Why? Oh. Yeah." Naruto's face clouded up a bit after that. "What are you going to do?"

The question hung in the dim light.

"I don't know."

There was a long pause after that, as if Naruto was trying to think of something smart to say. In the end all he said was, "I'm going to go. I have nothing else to do."

Shikamaru turned an eye to his blond haired friend.

"I'm too lazy. I'm not a big fan of the damn government anyway," the Nara said, trying to disguise his shaking voice with a bored façade. Even though Naruto was thick, he did not miss that.

"Liar. You _want _to do something."

There was more silence.

"It's troublesome."

"Come on. Pack your things."

"No."

"For Chouji, then."

Naruto looked at his friend. The darker haired teenager's eyes began to water.

"For Chouji."

* * *

The government outlet was air-conditioned, and Naruto and Shikamaru felt colder than necessary. Shikamaru was already regretting coming along with Naruto. They had to line up behind a bunch of other similar looking kids – they all had the same expression of loss on their face. When Shikamaru got to the counter, he looked lazily at the woman.

"Name?"

"Nara Shikamaru," the Nara answered, yawning.

The woman looked crossly at him. "Ok," she said. "Wait in there." She pointed to a door slightly ajar behind her.

Naruto was next.

"Name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," was the blonde's reply.

"In there," she said, jerking her thumb in the direction that Shikamaru had just went.

When he entered, he found a waiting room, similar to that of the rooms inside airports, except silent. They had been sitting there, brooding, for about fifteen minutes, when a large, suited man with a bandanna walked in. His presence was so domineering that almost everyone in the room turned to look at him when he came in.

"My name is Ibiki."

Without waiting for acknowledgement, the big man continued. "You may be wondering what you are doing here. I will tell you, brats. You aren't special. You're worthless. The only reason why you are here is because the government wants to conduct an experiment on you. This is NOT a joke." He paused for emphasis. "You may leave now if you wish," Ibiki said, grinning. His grin was interpreted as an evil smirk, and over three quarters of the room hurried out.

Naruto and Shikamaru hadn't moved. If they went out, where were they to go anyway?

The man named Ibiki leant back against the wall. Of the 45 teenagers that had been chosen from this region, only 6 had stayed. He knew these were the ones that had no where to go to, had extremely little or no loved ones, and had broken off most their attachments in the world due to pain. _This_, was what the government wanted. Hard, emotionless soldiers.

"You have been specifically selected by the government because of your social status. Your task is" – here he paused, and looked at each of the teenagers in the room – "to become an elite jet combat specialist."

There was silence. Was this a joke? Kids, becoming elite jet combat specialists?

"This is NOT a joke," Ibiki repeated, as if reading their minds. "It is part of the government's top secret plan to fight the Akatsuki. Since I have told you this, you may not back out now." With that, the big man stepped close to the door, and slammed it shut, for emphasis. "You will be flown to a government base north from here. There you will meet up with all the other teenagers in Japan that have chosen to accept this mission. You will be fully briefed, and then from there, you will all be airlifted to a hidden academy, where you will spend your time training to become a jet specialist. Are we clear?"

He did not have to ask twice.

"Don't feel relieved," he warned. "I'm to be your instructor."

* * *

Apparently, their group had arrived first. The government base was just like the government outlet – too much air-conditioning, and resembled an airport. Though, The other four from their region did not seem like they wanted to talk, so Shikamaru and Naruto did not pursue conversations. Not that they wanted to talk anyway. However, Naruto did notice a change in Shikamaru, in his body language, and the way he sat.

"Shikamaru."

"What?"

"What's up?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking," he said slowly. "Chouji loved flying."

Naruto nodded, understanding fully. Usually Shikamaru would've made some comment about the whole mission thing being to 'troublesome', but this time, he had been quiet. That was why.

They both looked up as the sliding doors opened. Ibiki had told them that there would be teenagers from all over Japan that were affected would be coming to this academy. That was why they were surprised when only about 15 teenagers walked in. Two, out of all of them stood out among the crowd.

One had dark, long hair like a girl's, but his facial expression was definitely not feminine. His pale white eyes were accompanied by a white hooded jumper. The other, Shikamaru noted, had the same colour hair, but much shorter. His face seemed permanently shaped into a scowl, and he had dark eyes, that looked like they had traces of red in them. His dark blue shirt seemed to match his personality.

Shikamaru gulped. It would probably be wise to steer clear of those guys, he thought to himself.

"Naruto," he said, without taking his eyes of the two.

When Naruto didn't answer he looked beside him, to find empty space.

Shikamaru whirled around to see the blond extend his hand to the one that looked meaner – the one with traces of red in his eyes. Crap. Naruto, that idiot. This was not going to be good.

"Piss off."

Shikamaru closed his eyes. Great. Naruto was going to be whipped on the first day – no, it wasn't even the first day.

"WHAT? I didn't even do anything!"

Uh-oh, Shikamaru thought. How troublesome. Naruto was going to get into a fight already, and chances were, that because he was associated with Naruto, he would get in some form of trouble. Shikamaru sighed, and then lay down on the seat. He started hearing the pushing and shoving, but for now, he just really couldn't be bothered.

* * *

_World, April 5, 2028_

"So, they've chosen you?"

"Yeah," came the voice.

"Perfect…I suppose it'll be too hard to kill them during flying…" the other voice trailed off. "But just gain their trust a little. Then get them together, and then bomb them in a room, or something."

"I know what I need to do."

"Just be patient."

"I said, I know what to do."

* * *

**AN: **Give some feedback, so I can see where it should be going. Ta. 


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **Ah, right, here is the next instalment of World War III. I know not much people didn't feel that this kind of fic was their kind of thing, but for the few that reviewed, thank you, and here is a second chapter. All aeroplane names are purely fictional. Apologies for any OOC.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

- - -

**World War III: Chapter 2**

- - -**  
**

_Somewhere in Japan, Hidden Academy, June 19, 2030_

Ibiki was not a school principal. At times, he felt like one – and one of those times was right now. He glared at the two teenagers in front of him. They had been called to his office time and time again – he didn't even know why he let them stay at the academy.

He looked at the teenager to his left, with a high ponytail, known as Shikamaru. The boy was the epitome of laziness. Throughout the whole two years that he had been at the academy, Ibiki estimated that only about two pages worth of notes had been written down, and about the same amount in practical application. There was no training whatsoever out of him, except only under strict supervision, and his grades were the second lowest in the class. One of the first things the students at the academy were to do was an IQ test, and halfway through, Shikamaru had fallen asleep. His IQ during that test was also the second lowest at 65. Ibiki didn't know if someone at that IQ could even begin to understand projectile motion and velocity. However, when observing the teenager, he noticed that in every strategic warfare game played in the academy, whether it be chess or battleships, the boy always managed to beat everyone by miles. This intrigued Ibiki greatly, so he decided to find a way to measure the boy's real potential. Disguising an IQ test in the form of a small game, he found the impossible. Nara Shikamaru's IQ numbered over 200.

The blonde boy next to Shikamaru had his usual stupid grin on his face. Ibiki bet that the boy didn't even know why he was in trouble. Uzumaki Naruto – though he stayed awake in class, he still didn't perform well at all. His grades were lower than Shikamaru, something Ibiki thought not possible. In addition to that, the boy was always making trouble, trying to get attention. On one particularly nasty day, Ibiki had ordered him to 500 chin-ups as punishment for his behaviour. He hadn't actually thought that the boy would actually do it (trouble making boys like him always lied their way out of punishments such as these), but Naruto had promptly got up and headed for the gym. The 500 chin-ups were completed that night. The boy had not given up, and completed something that should have been near impossible. The next morning Ibiki had expected Naruto to be absent during class due to overworking himself, but Naruto had showed up, that stupid grin still planted on his face.

Ibiki didn't know whether he had the strength to tell off these two again. Why couldn't they be like the two top students in the academy – Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Neji. The two prodigies had near-perfect grades, above average perception skills, and could fly a jet plane better than any standard air force pilot – all in two years, when it usually took one about five years.

Naruto, on the other hand, had nearly crashed _three_ planes, and Shikamaru had fallen asleep during a test flight. They just weren't cut out to be pilots. But it was too late now. The government had already requested that the students from the academy engage in life-threatening missions to 'observe their skills'. Observing their skills was political code for 'if they aren't good enough, they'll die on the mission'. Ibiki knew it was way too early for these students to be out on the battlefield, but orders were orders – he could not refuse. He had not told the students about it yet, rather, he had been planning the 4-man teams they were to go in.

The problem was, he had set everyone in evenly skilled groups, except for these two, and the two prodigies. Granted, Uchiha and Hyuuga could probably pull off one of the missions with just the two of them, however Naruto and Shikamaru could not, not in a million years. Ibiki was reluctant to place the four together, as Naruto and Shikamaru's abilities would drag down the others, but he had no other choice. He could only hope that the skill of the other two pilots over came the stupidity of Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto."

The two in front of him did not say anything. They knew they were in trouble.

Ibiki decided that it wasn't worth telling off the two – the never listened anyway. Instead, he got straight to the point. "The government has sent orders for every student in the academy to go on a mission. They want –"

"A real mission! Awesome!"

Ibiki rubbed his temples. Naruto had no idea what a 'real mission' meant. Seriously, did the boy ever think about dying? Well, at least he was paying attention, unlike his friend, who had taken to gazing off in the distance.

"You can die on this mission, Naruto."

That shut the boy up. But not for long, and Ibiki took advantage of it.

"You and Shikamaru will be paired up with Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji."

"WHAT?"

- - -

Ibiki accompanied the boys back to the classroom, the uneventful trip filled with sullen silence. Naruto had been complaining about why he – the top of the academy, should be placed with such _arrogant bastards _such as Sasuke and Neji.

Ibiki only agreed with one of those things. The two were arrogant bastards, and had gotten into fights more often than never, and looked down upon every other student in the class, even each other. Their circumstances were only known to Ibiki, but he knew both had been hurt by the both nuclear bombings that had rocked the world. According to his profile, Uchiha Sasuke tended to be emotionally unstable; his entire family had been killed in the Nuclear Wipe. Only he survived, because he was visiting his grandparents that day. That day, Sasuke had just turned twelve. A year later, his grandparents passed away, leaving everything to Sasuke. Fortunately, Sasuke had used money wisely, saving up. His brother – the only other person of his family that had survived the Nuclear Wipe – was living at Japan at the time, and had helped Sasuke move. When Sasuke was 15, his brother, Uchiha Itachi had joined the Japanese Airforce, leaving Sasuke alone. At 15, Uchiha Sasuke was independent, and thirsting for revenge on the Akatsuki.

Hyuuga Neji had been chosen by the government as one of the specially selected teenagers because his apparently close cousin had been killed in the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki – the same school that Naruto and Shikamaru went to. Ibiki didn't know whether the two knew it yet, if the didn't, chances are that they would soon. But that wasn't all. During heavy research into the Akatsuki's supply of firearms, they had traced it back to the Hyuuga family. The family had been divided into two sides since time immemorial – one side of the family dealing in artillery and arms, and the other side of the family dealing with technological developments. By the time the government had found that one side of the Hyuuga family had been one of the major suppliers of the Akatsuki, it was too late. One day, that side had just simply vanished – presumably to live in or near the Akatsuki's headquarters. Hyuuga Neji had reasons to hate the Akatsuki.

As soon as the boys were seated, Ibiki proceeded to tell the class just what was going on.

"Be thankful, you brats."

The class just sat there. They were used to his degrading remarks.

"Tomorrow, you shall taste the real war. The government has ordered me to assign you some missions. These missions ARE life threatening, so treat them that way," he growled, looking directly at Shikamaru. The boy had lost himself in dreamland again.

Ibiki continued. "Listen up when I call your name, and the group you are assigned to." He paused. None of the class seemed fazed. Even after Ibiki's constant warnings and harsh training, they had yet to really experience the battlefield.

"Group 1, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto. Group 2…"

As he was reading out the names, he could almost pick out who was going to survive. The Akatsuki had no pilots in training in the missions they were about to engage in. Though most of the class skills were way above the average fighter pilot, and could probably hold their own during combat, the battlefield did not have multiple lives, as the combat simulators the government provided did. There was no _second chance_.

- - -

"You are to leave at midday tomorrow," Ibiki said, reading off a sheet behind his desk. "Your orders are to engage a small group of K-2 Snakes…"

"What? Snakes?"

The other people in group 1 rolled their eyes. After two years of training, Naruto still didn't know the name for the Akatsuki's standard issue fighter jets. The K-2 Snake was named the snake because of its apparent ability to 'slither' in the sky, making it extremely hard for opposing forces to get a direct hit.

Ibiki continued, not paying any attention to Naruto's stupid comments. "Intel says that there should be only be a group of about six or seven, but don't be surprised if there's more. Your mission is to search and destroy for this group who are said to be somewhere in eastern China, dropping light bombs over unarmed villages. We can give you some satellite information at the time, but it will only be in a certain area, at a certain time, because of the group's dynamic nature. I suggest you search the coordinates as soon as they are given, in order to maximise your chances of finding them. As soon as you complete the mission, head back to base. Any questions?"

"What planes are we issued?" the Hyuuga asked.

"The F-18 Wasp. The new F-19 has not been fully tested, nor is it in a large production scale."

"How long will the mission take?"

"If everything goes right, about 15 hours. Is that all?"

When no more questions were asked, Ibiki stood up from behind his desk. Even with the two prodigies on their team, he was still worried. It wasn't that their skills wasn't up to scratch, it was just that they had no battle experience whatsoever. The simulations could only do so much.

"Good. Get some rest."

Ibiki watched them leave. Chances were, he would probably never see Naruto or Shikamaru again. What he hadn't told them was that if the group of Akatsuki pilots they were engaging was travelling in such small numbers, it meant their skill levels were extremely high. The other groups had easier missions, such as shooting down air defences, bombing certain areas – but what these guys were going to experience…that…that was _real war._

- - -

"Naruto."

"What, Sasuke?" Naruto immediately frowned. He really didn't like the arrogant Uchiha. He had fought him more than a few times, and had always lost, but he just couldn't seem to learn his lesson.

"Don't get in my way."

"Bastard." Naruto stuck out his tongue childishly. Even at 18, Naruto still couldn't act maturely.

"I'm serious. You are the _worst_." There was something different in the tone of his voice, something that was different to the usual taunts and teasing Naruto had to put up with.

"I'll kill you, Sasuke."

"Try it, _loser_."

Sasuke readied himself for another fight, in which he would win, but Naruto turned around.

"Fuck you, Sasuke. I bet I can shoot down more planes than you," Naruto said as he walked away.

"You won't even get _one_," was the Uchiha's reply.

- - -

_North West coast of Japan, June 20, 2030_

Nostalgic.

Now was not the time to be feeling nostalgic. Especially when he had two enemy fighters close on his tail. The other two fighters were persistent, and it had been a while since he had encountered such skilled fighters. Then again, in a cohort of 50 fighter pilots, there was bound to be one or two elite. Apparently this group was heading to northern Japan, through China. China's air force was currently engaging in a small air war to the west, while its air defences had been over run by the Akatsuki's military forces that had taken over Mongolia. It gave the Akatsuki a perfect route to Northern Japan, and they were utilising it quite well – immediately sending five bomber planes, escorted by about 45 K-2 Snakes, as Uchiha Itachi had counted before.

However, it seemed as though, this time, the Akatsuki had miscalculated the one grain of rice that could tip the scale – Squadron EJC1. Formed two days after the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki, in the year 2028, they had embarked on dangerous missions ever since. Consisting of only six pilots, they rocked the cradle of war against the Akatsuki. Itachi could remember their first briefing – the pilots hadn't even had the chance to get to know each other – they were thrown in a room, and told what to do. He had been chosen as the team leader at random, but after the first mission's success Itachi was informally dubbed the commander of Squadron EJC1. It wasn't announced officially – as officially the squadron did not exist. The only war records that noted the existence of Squadron EJC1 were stored away in top-secret government compartments. Even then, it would only be one sheet of paper, stating:

_International Squadron EJC1_

_Uchiha Itachi representing Japan._

_Hatake Kakashi representing the United States of America._

_Sarutobi Asuma representing Germany._

_Yuhi Kurenai representing Korea._

_Maito Gai representing China._

_Hayate Gekko representing the United Kingdom._

The inbuilt machine guns of the enemy's K-2 Snake left miniscule holes in the clouds as Itachi swerved away. Good pilots they may be, but they were dealing with the elite of the elite. Itachi looked to his left to see Hatake Kakashi down three enemy planes in a single burst of fire. Looping above his two assailants, Itachi fired off twin rockets that exploded on impact. As he shot through the explosion, he noted with some pride that there were no more enemy planes left. The element of surprise had worked well, and the six of them had shot down 15 planes before the Akatsuki could reform. Even when they had reformed, the Squadron had wrecked havoc in the lines, weaving in and out of the planes, making it almost impossible for an enemy pilot to shoot them down for fear of hitting one of their own. As for Squadron EJC1, the chance of hitting one of their own was negligible.

"Formation 4, behind me," Itachi said into his mouthpiece. His voice sounded strangely hollow due to the oxygen mask that was a requirement for all modern planes.

"We have 3 bandits at two o' clock, permission to engage requested," came a feminine voice Itachi recognised as Kurenai.

"Permission granted, Asuma, accompany Kurenai," Itachi replied.

"I copy," came the quick reply. "I just want to finish this so I can have a cigarette."

Itachi heard the usual snorts and sighs that came whenever Asuma made a comment like that. Once Asuma had smoked a cigarette inside his cockpit, and had nearly died of suffocation. It hadn't put him off cigarettes, but it had stopped him from smoking during flight.

The two elite pilots eliminated the threat almost immediately, and had rejoined the squadron.

As Itachi was making his last circle to see if there were any more planes left, he heard a burst of fire to his right. He turned to see that Hayate Gekko had opened a short burst of machine gun fire on Maito Gai.

"Hayate!" both Itachi and Gai shouted into their mouthpiece. Fortunately Gai's F-19 Wasp had levelled out somewhat, as the bullets had only struck his wing.

"Sorry. I coughed," came the dull reply. Hayate Gekko was the youngest member of the team, and was also the member that was continuously ill.

"Ah, it is ok as you are young, filled with YOUTH!"

Itachi didn't say anything more about the event, but wondered how could someone cough and fire their guns at the same time. It also seemed too convenient that he was behind Gai that time.

"Good job, Squadron EJC1. Let's head back to base."

The trip back was quiet – it usually was – the pilots lost in their own thoughts.

- - -

As the pilots exited the hangar into their living quarters, Itachi called them all for a short debrief in the middle of the house. The actual quarters was only a medium sized building connected to the hangar that consisted of a kitchen, six bedrooms, a rumpus, living, and a dining room.

Itachi glanced at the clock on the wall. _3:54 PM_

He had five minutes. He began the regular debriefing procedure, but halfway through, he looked up suddenly.

"Where's Kakashi?"

"My eternal rival has probably forgotten his educational books in the hangar," Gai answered, causing everyone else to roll their eyes. Educational books indeed.

"Don't move from here, I'll get him," Itachi said hurriedly. He glanced at the clock again. _3:58 PM. _

Damn Kakashi. That bastard was always late.

Itachi rushed outside the house and into the hangar, his quick eyes scanning for the familiar tuft of white hair that would identify Kakashi. He soon saw the American pilot walking towards him, an orange book flipped open lazily in one of his hands.

"Kakashi! This is important. Get inside."

- - -

There it was. Exactly how it looked in the satellite image. A hangar connected to some sort of building. The pilot glanced at his watch. _4:00 PM. _Just on time, he thought, as his target reticule turned red.

- - -

**AN: **Hey. Special thanks to all who reviewed – really appreciate it, since I know this type of fic isn't the most popular genre around here. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


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